IT'S a joy to jump in the Land Rover on a morning to drop Callum off at school. No hassle from the traffic - in fact, if we have 10 or 15 minutes to spare, we go down to the beach at the bottom of our track. If the tide is out, there are usually half a dozen seals sleeping on the rocks, and we just sit there and watch.

We still have that excitement of when we first saw them. If you walk up the beach, they will follow you up and down, jumping and diving as if they were trying to entice you to come in and play. If I hadn't seen the size of their teeth, it would be very tempting!

One of the local scallop divers was telling me about a particular dive in which, when he was descending, he felt a tug on his flipper. He turned around and saw a young, inquisitive seal at his heels. He went on to collect his scallops with the seal by his side - how fantastic!

Most of the fields are empty of beasts (cows) at the moment. They are put in the byres (cow sheds) for the winter period, and our byre is literally 2ft away from the back of the house. Our first winter here, we were lying in bed one night, when the beasts had just been put in and they all seemed to be crying in unison. We later found out they had just been separated from their mothers, which brought a lump to my throat. It made me think of going veggie.

It has already been eight months since I last ate lamb. Kelly was given an orphaned lamb last year for a pet: she named him Gordon, after her grandad. For some reason, I can't bring myself to buy one for consumption. In fact, Gordon has a dodgy leg and Andrew keeps threatening (jokingly) to chop it off for the freezer. So when I go and feed him I make sure he still has all four legs!

In fact, I have to check the ducks now as well, as Andrew has said he is missing his favourite Chinese crispy duck.

We get a really good deal on any meat we buy off the farmers here. We usually get collared by one of Callum's teachers, whose husband farms: we order half a beast at a time, which can last up to four or five months. You can also order from the butcher on the mainland, and his meat will be put on the boat and delivered ready for freezing.

We will soon be planting our vegetables for the year, which most people do on the island: spuds, turnips, cabbage, peas, carrots, leeks and broccoli. The soil here is very sandy, which is good for growing, and we are told that seaweed is a great fertiliser - which is handy as the beaches are piled high with the stuff at the minute.

But blimey, does it pong! The smell is dreadful and makes your eyes water.